“It’s not about me. It’s not about even anti-terrorism laws. It’s about trying to stop the killing in Palestine,” said Mike Higgins, who held a sign in Parliament Square last month that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

For holding the placard, the 62-year-old, who uses a wheelchair and describes himself as totally blind with additional hearing and physical impairments, was arrested along with 531 others at the largest demonstration referencing Palestine Action so far since the group was proscribed in July.

Higgins said his arrest, videos of which have been viewed millions of times on social media, “starkly highlights what an absolute waste of time” the proscription of Palestine Action is for the state, taxpayers, police resources and, “most importantly, [for] Palestine and defending the people of Palestine, because that’s actually what this is really about”.

At 1pm, the silent protest, organised by Defend Our Juries, began on the green in Parliament Square. Before this, a small number of arrests had been made on the edges but, for a short while, the main demonstration remained undisrupted. At about 1.15pm, police began making arrests on the green.

“The police were systematically going from the back of the crowds, digging people out and arresting them,” said Higgins. At 2pm, the silent demonstration was over. Some people remained on the green and others began to leave. “People got to their feet, those who could anyway, and clapped and applauded. However, police then decided to capture people as they were leaving the square.”

Higgins was one of them. “I wasn’t displaying the sign, but I was carrying it under my arm,” he said. “I was asked whether I knew what the sign said. I said I did know.” He was then arrested under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

He said he was taken through the square because the nearest exit to him had steps. This led to large crowds gathering around the officers, who chanted: “Shame on you.” He said: “They were rightly angry about the fact that the police were arresting people, and in particular a 62-year-old blind, physically disabled man.”

After being taken to the other side with level access, he was placed into a “surprisingly accessible police van”. Once put into the back, he said things became “a bit hairy at times”. Higgins said he asked officers privately: “Surely you would prefer not to be doing this stuff,” and they replied they would not.

He asked to be taken to an accessible toilet because he was “desperate for the loo”. After 20 minutes, when officers “didn’t know anywhere” that had one, Higgins was taken to a facility with a portable toilet that was wheelchair-accessible.

He said his health conditions had restricted his ability to attend some demonstrations, but he joined the action last month because he felt “very strongly about the genocide being committed in Palestine and the lack of action on the part of our leadership”. He added: “I mean Keir Starmer, his colleagues and the rest of the west to address what is mass starvation and human-caused misery.”

Higgins is on bail until October. He told officers that, by law, any written communications sent to him must be in braille. “We’ll wait and see if this happens,” he said.

“I think police would just like all this to go away. I think they don’t want to be embroiled in what is very clearly a political action,” he said.

More than 1,000 people have pledged to risk arrest on Saturday at a fresh protest against the ban on Palestine Action. Police have already detained five spokespeople for the event’s organisers.

The direct action group was proscribed after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in June and defaced two military aircraft with spray paint.